The Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) detained five more people after raiding an office of Karapetian’s Strong Armenia bloc in Yerevan’s northern Avan district. It accused them of violating a legal ban on vote buying and election-related benevolence but did not elaborate.
It was not clear whether the law-enforcement agency will seek court permission to hold them in pre-trial detention. The suspects were not identified by the ACC or Strong Armenia. The latter did not officially react to the latest arrests as of Wednesday evening.
The recently formed opposition movement has rejected as politically motivated similar charges that have been levelled against dozens of its other members and supporters in recent weeks. Some of them remain under arrest.
They include Artur Avanesian, a senior Strong Armenia figure arrested on Monday on vote-buying charges strongly denied by him. Avanesian, who is a retired senior army officer and a prominent veteran of the wars in Nagorno-Karabakh, went on hunger strike on Wednesday in protest against what another Karapetian ally described as “injustice and political persecutions” in the country.
The ACC claims that Avanesian illegally promised “a number of citizens” jobs and other benefits if they vote for Karapetian’s bloc. The law-enforcement agency publicized on Monday the audio of his wiretapped phone call with another Karabakh-born man said to be his friend and former colleague.
Avanesian can be heard saying that the situation in Armenia will improve in case of an opposition victory in the June 7 elections and stressing the importance of attending a pre-election event. When asked by the man whether he will be hired by the Armenian military if Strong Armenia comes to power, Avanesian answered in the affirmative.
Armenia – Artur Avanesian.
Aram Vartevanian, one of Karapetian’s lawyers and Strong Armenia’s top election candidates, insisted that the promise did not constitute a vote bribe. He argued that the two men are close friends with similar political views.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his Civil Contract party themselves are accused by the Armenian opposition of trying to buy votes in a bid to hold on to power. Opposition leaders say Pashinian promised citizens jobs and other material aid during his recent pre-election visits to various parts of the country.
No Civil Contract party member is known to have been prosecuted on corresponding charges. Nor has the ACC taken action against a charity run by Pashinian’s partner, Anna Hakobian, and accused by civic groups of illegally engaging in benevolent activities.
Armenian law bans such activities politicians running for office, members of their parties and their close relatives. Three Western-funded Armenian NGOs making up the election-monitoring Independent Observer coalition took Hakobian to court last week, accusing her My Step charity of violating the ban. Hakobian angrily denied any wrongdoing and threatened to demand criminal proceedings against them.
